Over time, I’ve lost interest in professional sports for many of the same reasons I’ve lost interested in the professional music, film, and other entertainment industries.

They have become thoroughly politicized by the left as part of the culture war. So for me, the lastest public fight over NFL players protesting on the sidelines is just the latest straw, and in many ways, the last straw.

This is not an issue of freedom of speech. These are private industries which, like other private industries, regulate the speech that is permitted to take place on the job. That regulation takes place both officially through guidelines for employment conduct, and unofficially, as expressing a particular political opinion can result in social media and internal attacks leading to job loss. Just ask Brendan Eich and James Damore.

I can’t tell you how many times readers and potential/actual authors have told me they fear loss of job and career damage if they express non-liberal opinions at work or in a way that people at work could find out. There is a reign of terror ongoing in this country, but it’s not from the government, it’s from social-media-empowered leftists who seek to impose the most intrusive political litmus tests in every aspect of our lives.

The most revealing aspect of the culture war is not that the professional entertainment industries are uniformly and aggressively liberal, but that they have pushed politics into every aspect of our lives. You will be made to care in the classroom and now, on the sports field.

The result, for me, is a withdrawal from much of professional culture.

My last refuge was the NFL. Now that is gone.

The NFL is as political an organization as there is, now. It picked sides in the culture war, and the side it picked is decidedly left. The NFL refused to allow the Dallas Cowboys to display a decal honoring the Dallas police killed by a Black Lives Matter supporter, yet it is completely supporting the “right” of players to kneel on the sideline while the National Anthem is played, as both a sign of support for the Black Lives Matter movement and an anti-Trump protest.

The right to protest is selectively applied by the NFL. Some protests are more equal in the NFL than other protests:

Numerous teams have backed up the NFL position, including the New England Patriots. The statements issued talk about defending the players’ right to express their views. But would the NFL support the rights of all players to express all views on the field during a game? I think not.

Nor would the media permit all forms of expression. Tim Tebow was viciously attacked and mocked by the professional media when he took a knee for prayer, yet NFL players are lionized in that same media for taking a knee while the National Anthem is played.

We have the image of NFL players taking a knee during the American National Anthem in London. That should be a Dixie Chicks moment for the NFL. Whether it will be remains to be seen.

The NFL and its teams have a “right” as private organizations, to pick sides. And it’s my right and everyone’s right to protest those protests, and to turn off the TV and not to attend games.

This is the consummation of the culture war, the takeover of professional sports by leftist activists. I’d rather see the NFL go down than be a part of and enable it.

I expressed my views on Twitter today in my first “thread” on a subject.

Comments

The NFL selective double-down is so revealing. Even more revealing are the carefully worded threads from Fuzzy & Leslie to contrast “I don’t come here for your ‘approval’. If I wanted to, I could lead these threads around like a circus poodle, you especially.”
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A functioning democracy needs a foundational layer of integrity and fair play on display from participants.
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We seem far down a path that regularly discards respectful dialogue in favor of insults, malicious misdirection and repression. We can’t help but to have a tentative side when an issue presents, but the prevailing style is to slander the disagreeable party and do no work to see the issue from their point of view.
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The National Anthem was the place that we subordinated our disagreements to affirm America’s very being — and affirm its democratic way. As soon as someone puts their issue above that, the foundational fabric of fair play is torn. The kneelers are free to put themselves above the whole, but it is a profound error. Must they abuse the traditionally sacred moment, when they have so many other moments to make their points?
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The torn fabric manifests everywhere and on all sides, primarily in complete disregard for the other. Many seem to think “why bother to even try engaging politely with that obvious son of a bitch?” Perhaps unrelenting fabric-tearers should be disengaged – a graduating suspension policy might be in order.
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But it really took the cake for me when one of the NFL’s fiercest pass rushers put himself on display: pic.twitter.com/RVtAuo5h7s. A man who violently assaults and batters players every Sunday claims that a disagreeable tweet from Trump is an . . . ASSAULT! And he expects me to take him seriously. I have profound respect for Miller but I really need him to sit for an interview and show me how well he’s thought this out.

William A. Jacobson: I can’t tell you how many times readers and potential/actual authors have told me they fear loss of job and career damage if they express non-liberal opinions at work or in a way that people at work could find out.

A football player engages in a silent protest against police brutality, so the President of the United States publicly calls for him to be fired.

Liar. Trump did no such thing. He asked his audience if they would like to see a team owner fire a player for protesting during the anthem. A liberal friend told me that was the same thing as calling for the firing himself. Really? If that’s so, then why did every MSM outlet change what he said? If what he said was actually the same as how they represented his words, then why weren’t his own words good enough to convey that message? The simple fact is that they didn’t, so they had to change the words to change the message into something he did not say.

And you believed the MSM that couldn’t keep itself from lying about Trump “staring into the sun” during the solar eclipse. If they can’t accurately report on such a banal action as glancing at the eclipse before putting protective glasses on, they certainly can’t be trusted to report accurately on anything of greater import.

New Article: __BTW, Jesus is coming sooner than you think.
Nothing thrilled me more than watching NFL football on the glorious Autumn afternoons of my youth. I was in another world as I watched my heroes play, one o’clock every Sunday. AFC games on NBC while CBS carried the NFC.

The next night brought the Prime-Time Glitz and Glamor of “MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL!! ” Cosell, Dandy, and Giff were on my tube every week.

NFL Film’s John Facenda, with his deep, God-like voice, chronicled game montages. Slow-motion action against a backdrop of military-march soundtracks or sweeping orchestral scores, creating a cinematic feel to the NFL Films production. Camera shots were so close-up that even player’s expressions were visible and hot breath could be seen spouting from their nostrils.

Facenda’s narratives were mesmerizingly hypnotic and irresistably captivating to a young person like me- “THERE. ON WIND. SWEPT. FROZEN TUNDRA. TWO TEAMS. TITANS OF HUMANITY. CLAD IN THE ARMAMENTS OF BATTLE. STUGGLED MIGHTILY IN PITCHED BATTLE. ‘TIL THE FINAL STROKE OF THE CLOCK. HERALDED THE END. OF THE HERCULEAN CONFLICT. ONLY ONE SIDE REMAINED STANDING. ‘NEATH THE GLORIOUS LIGHT OF VICTORY. WHILST THRONGS OF ONLOOKERS. PONDERED THE MARVELS THEIR EYES BEHELD. ON. THAT. DAY…” He made each game sound like an epic battle upon which rested the fate of the world. He could make the reading of a phone book sound exciting.

Looking back, the 1970’s NFL was jam-packed with Superstars. 70’s running backs: Campbell, Payton, Simpson, Dorsett, Csonka, Foreman, Harris, Mitchell, Muncie, Pruitt, Montgomery, Washington, Metcalf, Anderson, McCutcheon, Riggins, Brockington, and on and on. I know the rules has changed, favoring the passing game, but would anyone seriously argue for the passing attack if you had to yank a Gale Sayers out of the game, so you could heave the rock 36-39 times like they do now?

Quarterbacks & recievers: Staubach, Stabler, Bradshaw, Tarkenton, Kilmer, Fouts, Anderson, etc. (W.Moon was excelling in CFL). Recievers: Stallworth, Winslow, Casper, Biletnikoff, Branch, Swann, Pearson, Alworth, DuPree, Lofton, Rashad, Chandler, Newsome, Largent, Warfield – how can one list them all? I was Star-Stuck. I loved to watch these HOF players, and I emulated them when I played football with my friends.

Between NFL Films and John Facenda, the superstars, and the leadership of Pete Rozelle, the NFL morphed from an obscure football league, leaving 32,000, $12 seats empty in Super Bowl I, to a multi-billion dollar behemoth, equal to the COMBINED value of MLB and the NBA. Even more amazing? The NFL has a mere 16 opportunities to sell tickets. Between MLB and the NBA, there are 244 games played. AND, they compete for entertainment dollars with MLB throughout the month of October, then, the NBA for the rest of the season!

Somehow, someone created something so wonderful that America fell in love and elevated it to the most prominent, dominating pastime in our history. I will carry to my grave fond memories of exciting NFL games, the miraculous comebacks, the edge-of-your-seat overtimes, and nail-biting finishes. I will remember the absolutely astonishing story of the NFL’s evolution and rise to prominence in this country.

One last thing – I will never watch another NFL game.
My country comes first.

Yup. Followed the game for more than 40 years. No more, for the same reason.

Some friends asked me why I no longer go to the movies or watch any television shows. I tell them because I refuse to support the Leftist/progressive content with my viewership and refuse to support its purveyors with my money. Some told me that’s foolish. Really? The entertainment industry has become an arm of the Democrat Party. Giving my money to it is no different from contributing directly to the party itself. Why would I want to do that? Money I previously paid for entertainment helped make stars of people who now use their stardom (and my money) to work against my interests and the interests of my country. No more.

Ditto. My country comes before my entertainment. I’m done with the NFL. The league chose sides, and it chose badly.